Greenville’s almost two hundred years history is broadly painted with agriculture and tourism. Organized in 1803 as the Town of Greenfield (as Freehold in 1808 before settling on Greenville in 1809), Greenville was split off from the Town of Coxsackie. Bordering Greenville are the Greene County towns of Durham on the west, Cairo on the south, Coxsackie and New Baltimore on the east, and the Albany County towns of Westerlo and Coeymans on the north. An off-center bull’s eye of State Routes 81 and 32 is a quick map locator of Greenville.

The Hudson River traffic lies fifteen miles away, and the railroads passed to the east and north, with the 1830s Catskill & Canajoharie almost touching Greenville’s southern boundary.

Thus, much of Greenville’s first century of history was based on its semi-self-sufficient hamlets and the surrounding farms. The early patents in the 1700s – Coeymans, Hallenbeck, Van Bergen, Prevost – were sold to and settled by the newcomers, most of them from New England and Dutchess County. Indians had sporadically camped on the Freehold flats area and on the King Hill area, and traces of their presence were dug up for decades. A handful of settlers moved into eastern Greenville in the mid-1700s but were forced out with the hostilities of the Revolutionary War.

The post-Revolutionary War period saw rapid growth. The Knowles, Lake and Spees families are noted among the earliest settlers of this time period. The Town of Greenville’s first federal census in 1810 records 2300 citizens. The major hamlets were Greenville, Freehold and Norton Hill. Other hamlets formed, usually near a waterway or crossroads. Some, like Greenville Center and Gayhead, are still large enough to be recognized. Others, like West Greenville, East Greenville, Surprise, O’Hara’s Corners, and Place’s Corners are historical memories and curiosities.

Early transportation developed from the turnpikes, most of them running east-west, reflecting the westward movement. The Coxsackie Turnpike ran over what is mostly Routes 26 and 81, and the Schoharie Turnpike ran over what is mostly Rt. 67. The Greenville & Potter Hollow Turnpike, the Coxsackie-Oak Hill Turnpike, and the Greenfield Turnpike also marked well traveled routes. Other roadways were the typical dirt paths and roadways that endured until the beginning of the paved roads in the 1920s. Routes 81 and 32 were among the first to be concrete covered, with the county highways next. Many will remember the salting of town roads in the summer time to keep the dust down, and most of these roads were greatly improved by the Erwin plan of the 1950s. Finally, in the 1980s, the last dirt road yielded to being oiled and stoned. The state, county and town highway departments take care of these roads, a duty that private residents endured before the 20th century.

Much of Greenville’s history is that of agriculture. Many of the residents were farmers who needed to be nearly self-sufficient, trading at the hamlets for the material they couldn’t manufacture themselves. The move was made to dairy farms in the second quarter of the 20th century. Only until the few years after WWII did agriculture seriously decline, with a steady stream of small farmers moving on to other occupations, the result of an economy of scale that forced most of the farmers from holding on any longer. Abetting this trend, the automobile had made it easier to travel to Catskill, Hudson, Kingston and Albany for jobs. Even the farmers were working part-time, often in the local businesses and school, to supplement their income. By the 1960s, only a few larger farms were still shipping milk. Today, a few beef herds can be found along with a scattering of “hobby” farms.

Much of the early business history of the Town of Greenville is recorded in Beers’ history. Most of the mills would have fallen into disuse by the 20th century, no longer depending on the water power. The teamsters, like the Ingalls, would yield to the truck in the nineteen-teens, and by the 1920s, the motor vehicles had replaced the horse as the dominant means of transportation.

The telephone and electricity gradually speeded the pace of business and life of early 20th century Greenville.

As for the tourist business, the ripple effect of the Mountain House era would slowly affect Greenville. However, it wasn’t until the early 20th century that the next prominent shaper of Greenville’s history would start. Farms had taken a guest or two or more during the summer season but the 1910-1930 era saw the springing up of the boarding house. Farmers started adding onto the house to accommodate the ten, then twenty, then forty guests that would spend a week or more at the house. Major draws were the escape from the city and the fresh air for the working class people from the New York City area and its suburbs. Rocking chairs on the porch, lawn games, walking and a nearby creek were enough at first. However, competition meant that a pool was soon needed, as was a casino for entertainment. By 1960, forty different establishments were noted in a Chamber of Commerce flier. And this flier left out a number of places that had already fallen by the wayside. People would talk of Greenville’s Main Street being so packed with people that it was difficult to travel through. Those who had taken the Day Line and the railroad in 1930s and 1940s could drive their car and take the bus to the hamlets in the 1950s and 1960s.

Just as the farms were in noticeable decline in the 1960s, one could see the changes in the resort industry in that decade also. Improved transportation, a growing money economy and increasing expectations forced the boarding houses to grow bigger and offer more. Entertainment of some kind was needed most nights – music, bingo, weenie roasts, etc. People wanted their own shower and bathroom, then color TV, then air conditioning. The list of former boarding houses/resorts is a history of the tourist era of the 1920s to the 1980s. Again, an economy of scale would affect the tourist businesses. Today, Sunny Hill can host 400, while the others still existing – like Pine Lake Manor, Baumann’s Brookside, and Balsam Shade – have made the improvements to stay in business. A few of the older resorts have been sold to religious groups, while others have been turned into apartments, and fire has claimed others. A drive through the town can show the remnants of this era.

An important part of Greenville history is its school history. Greenville takes pride in its Greenville Academy of 1815, a center of education for many years. It existed surrounded by the more numerous one room school houses that dotted the town. The Academy building was torn down in 1905 and the new building, the current library building, was erected the following year.

Centralization came in 1930 and the new building – today’s elementary school – opened in 1932, accompanied by the closing of many of the one room school houses, although this process would stretch for a decade or two. The school district also includes Rensselaerville which maintained its own elementary school into the 1960s. The small Durham elementary school which sent some of its students to Greenville would merge with the Cairo school district.

School population generally has increased, with a few downturns – about 450 in 1932, over 800 in 1942, over a 1000 in 1962, and nearly 1700 in the mid-1970s before a downturn in the 1980s and a current population close to the 1970s peak.

The school population to some degree reflects the population of the town. Greenville’s early peak in population occurred in 1830, with about 2500 residents. A gradual decline is noted until the 1930s when the population has almost shrunk to half of its peak. An upturn in population turns to rapid growth in the 1960s to 1980s period. The early peak of 1830 is re-reached in the 1970s, and the current population has surpassed 3500.

The early churches reflect the New England influence. The Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Methodist Churches of Greenville, the Congregational Church of Freehold, the Methodist Church of Norton Hill, and the Baptist Church of Greenville Center are the existing churches from before 1900. (The two Methodist Churches merged in the 1970s at the Norton Hill site.) Churches that were located in King Hill, East Greenville, and West Greenville no longer stand. The St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, an early 20th century addition, is the most recent sizable denomination. New churches have sprung up in the last couple decades – the Latter Day Saints and the Christian Life Center are two examples.

The current business situation is a mix of old and new. In some ways, Greenville has not changed too much. A traveler will find the gas station, bank, hardware store, funeral home, appliance store, restaurant, pharmacy, barbershop, plumber, carpenter, doctor, painter, lawyer and others.

The new times are reflected in a number of ways. The video store, computer store, finger nail care, fax, and others are business not thought of in mid-century. The number of certain business – banks and restaurants – reflect our fast paced society. Our local businesses fill almost all of the town’s needs and wants; for the rest, many people travel to Albany, Catskill, Hudson and Kingston.

The resident of 50 years ago would be amazed by today’s center of business. Greenville’s hub was its Main Street. In the 1970s, however, Al and Zan Bryant began what would become the commercial district one mile north of Greenville. Nearly 20 businesses are clustered in Bryant’s Country Square. Thus, two business clusters define Greenville today.

Adjacent to this newer cluster is Country Estates, a housing project that when finished could have 150 residences, almost doubling the number of residences in the water district.

In the 20th century’s last decade, Greenville has preserved 155 acres of the Vanderbilt farm as the newest town park, located between the schools and the Bryant’s Square. Also, an addition has enabled the library to better serve the community with the newest technology.

Zoning ordinances enacted in 1987 have tried to steer Greenville to desirable growth, keeping in mind its history and its future. This future – with computers and technology, a growing home business sector, and an easy accessibility to Albany – represents one more phase of Greenville’s flow of history.